Device to prevent the refilling of bottles



June 3, 1941. w L KELMAN 2,244,460

DEVICE TO PREVENT THE REFILLING 0F BOTTLES Filed Jul 5, 1938 lil ATTORNEYS.

Patented June 3, 1941 DEVICE TO PREVENT THE REFILLIN G F BOTTLES William(L. Kelman, Cranston, R. I. Application July 5, 1938, Serial No. 217,341

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a device for preventing the refilling of abottle or some like container; and has for one of its objects to providea tamper proof device which will allow no liquid to enter the bottlethrough the controls in the device regardless of the position which thebottle is caused to assume or any vacuum which may be applied to thebottle.

Another object of the invention is to provide a construction which willpermit liquid in the bottle to be poured out quickly and one which willnot so restrict the liquid exit from the bottle as to make the structureimpractical.

Another object of the invention is to provide a closure valve and acontrol therefor which will operate quickly and satisfactorily and yetprovide a secure seat for sealing the liquid passage through the device.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bottle closure which maybe made of such materials as glass or porcelain or such as will beacceptable for use in connection with distilled liquors where great careagainst contamination is of primary importance.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certainnovel features of construction, as will be more fully described, andparticularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a sectional view of the device as mounted upon a neck of abottle which is shown fragmentally;

Fig. 2 illustrates the same parts with the bottle in a different ornearly inverted position and showing the relation of the parts when thebottle is so positioned;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the device showing the position of theparts when the bottle is in a horizontal position;

Fig. 4 is a. perspective view of one position of the device separatedfrom the bottle neck and showing the bottom end thereof;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of one of the guard and ball guides;

Fig. 6 is a sectional view of the structure of Fig.

Fig. '7 is a sectional view of a modified form of float valve;

Fig. 8 is a sectional view of the lower part of the casing of the devicein a modified form;

Fig 9 is a different modified form of valve.

A device which is used to prevent the refilling of a bottle afteremptied requires certain essentials of a tight closing valve which willrespond in many different positions to close the opening into the bottleand usually some part supplemental to the valve is provided foraccomplishing this result, such for instance as a ball. Devices whichheretofore been oifered to the market are usually objectionable in oneway or another, such for instance as non-uniform action to permit aneasy pouring of the liquid from the bottle or a sticking of some of themovable parts which act as a control. Other devices are so complicatedas to be outside of practical costs as the expense of products is toogreat in proportion to the product upon which they are used. In order toovercome these difiiculties, I have provided a rather simple structureand one which operates satisfactorily by reason of the generalarrangement of its parts and the details which it contains, as will bemore fully hereinafter ex plained:

With reference to the drawing, 10 designates the neck of a bottle whichhas at its upper end a flange l2 with some groove and rib formation l3below the flange. The stopper device which is inserted into the neck ofthe bottle consists generally of a casing designated M which is insertedinto the opening I 5 of the bottle neck Hi with a washer or packing itbetween the end of the bottle and the flange IT, on the casing i4 so asto make a liquid tight seal, the casing being clamped in position by acrimped metal band or ferrule I8 rolled over the shoulder I! and theflange l2 of the bottle neck I. Some non-tamperable seal of thischaracter may be utilized to hold the device in the neck of the bottleand prevent removing and replacing thereof.

The casing l4 consists of an inner part or cylindrical shell [9 and anouter cylindrical cap portion 20 which telescopes over the portion l9with a flange part 2| of this upper portion abutting the flange part 22of the shell I9 with some sealing packing 23 between the two if desiredto provide a unit assembly. The lower end wall 24 of the casing isconcave on its outer surface and is provided with a central guideopening 25 and a plurality of surrounding openings 2'5 for the passageof liquid therethrough. A ring 27 which is supported by the webs 28 fromthe outer portion of the wall 24 thus forms the guide opening 25. Theinner surface of this wall 24 about the openings 26 provides a valveseat 29 which will be a finished or ground surface so that there may bea seal between it and the Valve or optionally there may be a recess 30provided in the lower wall 24, as shown in the modification of Fig, 8,and some softer material 3|, such as cork or some other suitable valveseat surface, may be provided for the accomplishment of this sealingaction.

A valve 32 consists of a hollow body and is lighter than the liquid tobe used so that the same will be buoyant. This valve is of a shelllikestructure with side wall 33, bottom wall 34 having a guide pin 35extending to fit loosely in the guide opening in the wall 24 and with atop wall 3'6 which is concave and provides a flared flange 37 extendingoutwardly at its upper end. The under surface of the bottom wall 34 isprovided with a slight concavity 38 around the guide pin and a slightprotuberance 39 adjacent its peripheral edge which is ground to providea suitable seat for engagement with the seat 29 and form a seal of theopening when the valve is in closed position. In some cases instead ofhaving the seat 39 formed by grinding of the protuberance I may form arecess 48 in the wall 34, as shown in Fig. '7, and provide some cork orresilient material 4| in the valve to engage the valve seat and seal thepassage through which the liquid may flow.

In order to prevent tampering with the valve through the discharge openng 32 in the cap part 26 of the device, I have provided a disk 23 whichstretches across the bore 44 of the part 20 and locks between a shoulder45 in the bore and the upper end of the shell l9, as clearly shown inthe sectional views 1, 2 and 3. This disk has openings 46 inward fromits peripheral edge at such location as to be beneath the inset portionl! of the cap 20 so that no wires may be poked into this end of thedevice. A ball 48 is located between the disk 43 and the valve and isrelatively heavy, such as being of solid glass material. Arms 19 extendfrom the disk 43 inwardly toward the valve and are each tapered as at 50to provide inclined surfaces 5! which are such as to cause the ball 58to roll down these surfaces and engage the valve when the bottle neck isin horizontal position and move the valve to closed position. Thelengths of these arms 49 is such that the ball will have a tendency tocontinually close the valve until a it is fully seated.

When it is desired to pour liquid, from the bottle, assuming that thebottle will be positioned, as shown in Fig. 2, the liquid may then passthrough the openings 26 by reason of the ball rolling to the positionshown in Fig. 2 and the valve following the ball the liquid will passabout the Valve and about the ball which engages the arms but leaves afree space otherwise about it out through the opening 52 in the device.By reason of the flare 31 on the flange at the upper end of the floatand the undercut portion caused by the space 52 between the valve andthe ball, I have found that a very free flowing of the liquid outwardlyoccurs and commencement of the free flowing is assisted by reason of thevalve seat being at the very outer edge of the float valve. If when inthe position shown in Fig. 2 liquid is attempted to be allowed to enterthe bottle the float valve will immediately lift and seat itself inclosing position about the openings 26, as this valve is made lighterthan any liquid which might be inserted.

If the bottle were placed in horizontal position the flange at the valvewould rest upon the lower portion of the wall of the shell casing iiiand the ball would roll down to commence the closure of the float valve.Any liquid which might be attempted to be inserted when the bottle is inthis position would assist the valve in floating up to permit the ballto more readily close the valve and no liquid could enter. The taper at54 in the bore of the shell l9 also assists in positioning the valve andis exceedingly desirable from both an assembly standpoint and operationto assist in closing the valve when the device is in this position.

The size of the ball in the bore of the casing serves to govern thespeed at which pouring is permitted. If the ball is too small withrelation to the exit flow passage, such as opening 42, liquid will trapand the valve will float back to closed position and a jerky action ofthe valve will be encountered. If the ball is too large a jerky actionwill also be encountered by reason of the restriction on the valve sideof the ball. The guide stem 35 will of course be proportioned withrelation to the size of the ball so that it will at all times remain inits guide openings 25 and while the proportions of these parts aredesired, as illustrated in the drawing, good mechanics will clearlydictate the relation of these parts which must be had in order that asmooth operating closure may be provided.

In Fig. 9 I have illustrated the valve as formed of solid parts andthere shown a cork at 55 which is inserted within the fingers 58 on thevalve for the floating action of the valve in case a hollow structure isnot to be used.

The parts which I have described may be formed of porcelain or glass,while in some instances a metal alloy which may be more easily workedwill be a suitable material for accomplishing the results which aredesired.

The outer reduced end of the cap part 20 is provided with a thread 5'!to receive a closure which may be threaded thereonto.

The foregoing description is directed solely towards the constructionillustrated, but I desire it to be understood that I reserve theprivilege of resorting to all the mechanical changes to which the deviceis susceptible, the invention being defined and limited only by theterms of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a device to prevent the refilling of a bottle or like container, ahollow casing insertable in the neck of a bottle and having an openingat its inner end with a valve seat about said opening, a valve in saidcasing to engage said seat and seal said opening and arranged to floatin the liquid placed in the bottle, a guard disk positioned to close theupper portion of said casing and seating on the outer end surfacethereof,

. a ball between said disk and valve to engage the valve and move it toits seat, and arms on said disk having a surface so disposed as to causesaid ball to move into engagement with said valve when the casing isdisposed in a horizontal position, a hollow cap member positioned aboutthe outer upper portion of said casing and having a pouring opening anda shoulder in the interior thereof adjacent to said pouring opening andabutting said guard disk to secure the same in place, and means forsecuring said casing and cap member together.

2. A device to prevent the refilling of a bottle or like container, ahollow casing insertable in the neck of a bottle and having an openingat its inner end with a valve seat about said opening, a valve in saidcasing to engage said seat and seal said opening and arranged to iloatin the liquid placed in the bottle, a guard disk positioned to close theupper portion of said casing and seating on the outer end surfacethereof and having openings adjacent its outer edge, a ball between saiddisk and valve to engage the valve and move it to its seat, and arms onsaid disk extending from the outer edge thereof and tapered to provide asurface so disposed as to cause said ball to move into engagement withsaid valve when the casing is disposed in a horizontal position, ahollow cap member positioned about the outer upper portion of saidcasing and having a shoulder in the interior thereof abutting the outeredge of said guard outwardly of said openings to secure the same inplace, and means for securing said casing and cap together.

3. In a device to prevent the refilling of a bottle or like container, ahollow casing having a bottom wall provided with an annular recesshaving a central opening and a plurality of liquid passage openingssurrounding said central opening and with a valve seat about saidopenings and within said recess, a tapered annular wall connecting saidrecess with the upper surface of said casing, a valve in said casingassisted in movement to seated position by the said tapered wall andprovided with a portion to engage said seat and seal said openings.

WILLIAM L. KELMAN.

